


Read My Mind, Save My Heart

by oinkjungjung



Series: Read My Mind [3]
Category: NINE PERCENT (Band), 偶像练习生 | Idol Producer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, M/M, Mind Reading
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26750692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oinkjungjung/pseuds/oinkjungjung
Summary: Now separated across two worlds, will Xukun overcome all odds and fulfil his promise to Zhengting?aka the final part in the three part series of zhengkun: the star-crosssed lovers
Relationships: Cai Xukun/Zhu Zhengting | Jung Jung
Series: Read My Mind [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1667749
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Read My Mind, Save My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> this is the epilogue of Read My Mind, Break My Heart and there are also references to the prequel Read My Mind, Take My Heart so do read those first!

Following what had happened, another baby with telepathic powers was reborn into the world of darkness, only this time round, he had people with special abilities, like him, looking out for him.

After having witnessed the tragic events that had happened in a world out of their reach, the other guardians, Zhangjing, Wenjun and Linkai, immediately started searching for their fellow guardian, knowing that he would reborn in their world, finally returning to where he should be.

As compared to the previous time, it was much easier to locate the newly born Zhengting simply because there was only that many habitable areas and families in their world.

And having found the tiny baby that was Zhengting, they soon managed to take him in, raising their fellow companion until he reached the age of twenty-one, where he regained his memories from all his past lives and was reinstated as a guardian, protector of the world.

Having regained all his past memories, Zhengting spent nearly a day before recovering and managing to process what had happened. After all, Zhengting was an immortal that had been around for hundreds of years now, and the sudden transition from being a normal human being to realising that he had lived through numerous lives was a little much to handle.

But once he had managed to wrap his head around his new identity, Zhengting’s feelings towards Xukun became the focus of his attention. Being the most recent emotions Zhengting had felt in his countless number of years, the love, regret and sorrow felt the most pronounced, the memories of the time he spent with Xukun constantly in his head.

This coupled with the realisation that his encounters with Xukun extended way beyond a mere lifetime, Zhengting couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by his emotions. They had two lifetimes now, to overcome their misunderstandings and right their wrongs, and yet they had let both opportunities slip from their grasps.

Now that they are separated across two drastically different worlds, all Zhengting could do was to watch as Xukun, now in his forties, went about his routine life, travelling between his flower shop, his house and the grocer.

Watching as Xukun seemingly repeated the same day over and over, Zhengting couldn’t help but wonder to himself, “I wouldn’t mind that mundane, boring life. If only I could be by your side.”

And with this, Zhengting now accompanied Xukun from the other side of their world. He may not have been able to be there for him physically, but Zhengting wishes that deep down, this little companionship would reach the oblivious Xukun.

When Xukun’s time in the other world came to an end, Zhengting had been too afraid to watch, throwing Zhangjing over to replace him at his usual spot, where he had looked over Xukun for the past decades, as Zhengting buried himself in bed. A part of Zhengting was grateful, because he knew that once Xukun had passed, he would be reborn in this world, and that they would no longer be separated across two worlds. Despite this, it was still a sight that Zhengting wasn’t willing to see. The mere thought of watching the life in the eyes of the man he had come to love and care about fade into nothing scares him to no end. 

Seeing the way Zhengting was acting, none of the other guardians dared to disturb him. They were all aware of what had happened, had witnessed everything that happen in Zhengting’s previous life, watching him the same way Zhengting was watching Xukun now. The other guardians have come to realise what those two had meant to each other, and in this tender little moment, they decided it was best to leave them alone.

Giving them space was one matter, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t help Zhengting out a little by locating where Xukun ended up reincarnating into. Just like when they were finding baby Zhengting, it barely took a couple of days for them to locate baby Xukun.

Rushing to announce the news to Zhengting, Zhangjing soon managed to sneak Zhengting into the cluster of homes like he always did, getting Zhengting to peek through the windows into the tiny living space where a baby was tucked into bed not far from the fireplace.

“So that’s how you look like as a kid,” Zhengting thought, “Not so scary now huh.”

Unlike the first time they had met, this Xukun seemed much more content with what he had, no more dreams of living a better life in some far away land he wasn’t even sure existed, all he wanted was to lead a simple, quiet life. In this cold, dark world, ambition was a rarity, and the old Xukun was one of the rare few that had been nothing short of ambition. Despite this, it seemed his previous life experiences have affected him, changing his goals and shaping him to become the person he is now.

As someone who had witnessed the many different lifetimes of others, Zhengting was not new to the concept of a person’s experiences and lessons learnt in their past lives affecting them in the lives to come. And much to Zhengting’s sorrow, he can recognise that in this new life of his, Xukun was doing all he can to contribute, to his family, to his neighbours, he was always trying hard to please, putting others before himself, never once considering how hard he had made his own life to be. It was like he was making amends, to something, to someone.

“But it wasn’t your fault… It was me…” Zhengting thought.

That being said, Zhengting realised that his past life may have affected Xukun in more ways that just that. While Xukun had easily became well liked by everyone with the way he was acting, he never did end up finding a partner. Their little community may have been small, but Xukun had been one of the rare few to be adored by every girl of a similar age around. And yet, he had never once opened up to any of them, never once giving anyone a chance of finding a place in his heart.

Maybe it was because there was just no vacancies left in there for his heart had long been stolen away by someone.

All this time, Zhengting watched over him, watched as he grew up, watched as he grew old, never once appearing in front of Xukun. He couldn’t bring himself to.

While Zhengting may have realised the ways Xukun may have still been holding onto some of the past, Zhengting was aware that he had no part to play in this life of Xukun’s. They had met, had loved in their previous lives. But unlike Zhengting who was a guardian and was hence aware of what had happened, Xukun didn’t.

He was a brand new person, this is a fresh new start for him, and Zhengting cannot bring himself to take this away from Xukun.

Maybe this was their fate, and Zhengting would have no part to play in Xukun’s future. So he stayed away, he watched over him, but he never once interfered.

And just like this, seven decades flew by. For an immortal like Zhengting, it should have been merely a blink of an eye, only that it wasn’t for Xukun. Now in his seventies, Xukun was amongst the oldest people around in his community. In their cold, harsh world, most people didn’t live to that age. 

This long life of Xukun’s may have been a reward, for all the good he had done this time round, for him to enjoy a little more quiet and peace before returning back to the vibrant yet noisy world on the other end. But maybe, it was a punishment, for him to have more time to make amends for his wrongdoings, for him to spend more time alone, lonely.

At the end of this peaceful life of his, Xukun was alone again, much like he was in his previous life. Witnessing a similar sight again as Xukun grew weaker and weaker, Zhengting hadn’t hid away this time round, choosing to finally show himself.

“I can’t let you go through this alone again…” Zhengting thought.

Holding onto Xukun’s hands as the latter laid weak in bed, Zhengting accompanied him into his final moments, until the hands in his grew cold and the sound of the weak breaths disappeared.

This time round, Zhengting had been there to watch the life fade away from Xukun’s eyes.

“Please find someone the next time, don’t suffer on your own like this anymore…” Zhengting thought.

And in Xukun’s next life, it seemed Zhengting’s prayers had been heard. Being born to a lovely family in the North, Xukun lived a luxurious life without worries. He got to enjoy all the ease and comfort he never had in the past, being able to attain anything he desired without breaking a sweat.

As the only son and heir to his family’s huge corporation, Xukun was always under the attention of the public eye. And with his charisma and good looks, it was no surprise that he had many people swooned.

Xukun was almost never left alone, be it his admirers or the paparazzi, Xukun always had a trail of people behind him. This coupled with his loving family, one can say that Xukun was short of anything but love. Unfortunately, everything came to an end before anyone had the chance to comprehend what had just happened.

Unlike the past few times when Zhengting could tell the end was coming, he was caught off guard by its sudden occurrence. One moment, Xukun was still having the time of his life vacationing at a quiet holiday resort, paying absolutely no mind to the crowd around him snapping away on their huge cameras, and the next, Xukun was gone.

All that was left in his place was the phone he had previously held in his hands.

Enjoying the week out with a bunch of friends, Xukun was on another one of those random, last minute vacations they had the tendency of throwing together. Located away from the city, the surroundings were quiet and peaceful, if it weren’t for the incessant snapping of the cameras following him around. 

If it had been anyone else, they would probably have been breaking out vulgarities by now. But he was Xukun, someone who had every little bit of his childhood and teenage days shared around by strangers he had never met, such paparazzi now longer bothered him anymore. After all, he’s experienced much worse and had now come to the realisation that nothing he did was going to stop them.

Slipping out of the villa he was sharing with his friends, Xukun had came out to take a call, the crazy buzz his friends was creating would not have been welcomed by whatever important figure he had on the other end of the call.

While the call had barely lasted a couple of minutes, Xukun had been out for close to an hour now. When his call had ended, Xukun hadn’t felt like returning so soon, the much needed peace felt amazing. So he started to stroll, not having any particular destination in mind, Xukun just went wherever he felt like going. He had no worries of losing his way, he had a whole crowd following behind him to help him out anyway.

As Xukun got closer and closer to where the land cuts off, the story of a particular telepath he had always heard people talking about played in his head, the way he had stopped a whole city of people, the way he had taunted everyone with his final words, the way he had jumped off a trench just like the one before Xukun at the moment, resembling a horizon where the sky and seas met.

Despite what everyone had told him, Xukun never thought that the mind controller was taunting or arrogant. Those last words of his, they hadn’t seemed spiteful to Xukun, sounding more like a plea than anything.

“Find me, please… I’ll be waiting…”

Right at this moment, a sudden cry shocked Xukun out of his thoughts. Realising that it was one of the ever-silent paparazzi who have learnt to keep their voices down around him, Xukun immediately turned, ready to glare at the one who disturbed his thoughts only to realise why the person had cried out.

There was a girl, probably still in her teens, right at the edge of the land they stood. Any false move and she would have fallen off.

Noticing the crowd of people approaching, the girl lifted a leg off the ground, swinging it to the front as though she was about to take a step into the never-ending depths before her. Realising the urgency of the situation, Xukun ran towards her without a moment’s hesitation.

Everything happened in a matter of seconds, but to everyone that was around, it felt like an eternity had passed as their hearts were in their mouths.

Just as the girl had almost lifted her other leg off the ground too, Xukun closed their distance between them, managing to tackle her to the ground, using his weight to push her away from the dark trench.

Unfortunately, that meant Xukun had landed next to her, just slightly off the edge. And as the soil underneath him loosened upon impact, Xukun hadn’t manage to keep himself from slipping off into the darkness, leaving behind a phone that had fell out of his pocket in his place.

As darkness started to cloud his vision the further he fell, Xukun couldn’t deny the feeling of familiarity he felt.

When had he experienced this before?

Much like the previous few times where Zhengting had been distressed by Xukun’s passing, he had spent the next few days burying himself in bed, unwilling to meet anyone. However, Zhengting only seemed even more distraught this time round thinking about how Xukun had a whole life ahead of him.

He hadn’t died of old age, Xukun was in his twenties, he should have been enjoying his best life.

And all this was cut short… Zhengting found himself having a hard time processing and accepting this reality. But it seemed that fate wasn’t intending on letting him process this either as Xukun turned up a few days later at the door to the guardian’s secret abode as a baby wrapped snugly in a thick blanket. With no idea of who his parents were and how baby Xukun ended up at their door, the guardians had no choice but to take him in.

When Zhengting was first informed of this by Linkai, having shut himself in for the past few days, Zhengting couldn’t quite believe it. It seemed that after all this time, fate had brought Xukun back here to him again.

Over the years, the guardians all played a part in raising the kid that was Xukun. Having had a similar experience a hundred years back raising Zhengting, the other three had seemed fairly adept at child raising. Despite this, it was obvious none of them were Xukun’s favourite.

The kid may have gotten along really well with everyone, but there was an obvious difference in the way he acted around Zhengting. While he would be all mischievous, playing around and even going on to bully some of the guardians, Xukun was always the obedient kid around Zhengting, quietly following the latter around as he went about his day, occasionally mimicking Zhengting’s actions on his own at one corner.

Xukun liked Zhengting the most, that was no secret. And while he would always crave for telepath’s attention, he would never make a fuss and throw tantrums around the latter, as though afraid of upsetting the guardian.

He would always run towards Zhengting with those chubby legs of his whenever he had some good news to share, only to slow down just as he was reaching Zhengting and meekly tug at the long black cloak he always wore. And if Zhengting was busy, Xukun would swallow down his excitement and wait by the side until Zhengting finally had time for him.

All this, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by Zhengting, he was aware of how close and reliant Xukun was getting towards him, had noticed it ever since Xukun was a baby and would always stop crying as long as Zhengting was the one holding him.

But while Zhengting was still the Zhengting from the past, Xukun wasn’t. This was yet another fresh start for Xukun, and Zhengting knew for a fact he couldn’t expect what they had to continue. Zhengting was no doubt happy to finally have Xukun around again, but at the same time, the knowledge that Xukun was no longer his only served to make him guilty over the joy he felt around the latter.

So Zhengting started to distance himself from Xukun.

Even as a kid, it hadn’t took long for the perceptive Xukun to realise how Zhengting was avoiding him. And while it had hurt the kid greatly, Xukun soon learned to accept that he should not be seeking Zhengting out for every little thing that happened. And before anyone knew it, Xukun had grown up, from a tiny baby to a playful kid to a teenager who kept everything to himself.

At times, Xukun would find himself brightening up whenever Zhengting would enter his line of sight. He still wanted to approach, but he knew he shouldn’t, not as a kid and even more so now that they had become mere acquaintances.

While Zhengting had initially avoided Xukun, he soon stopped consciously making an effort to do so once he realised that the latter no longer seeked him out and treated him differently. But what he didn’t realise was how he had unconsciously started to hide himself away in the hood of his black cloak more and more as Xukun grew up, slowly turning back into the way he was a long time ago, when he had never met Xukun.

Despite how Xukun had no memory of the Zhengting from a long time ago, it didn’t change the fact that he hated seeing him like this, recluse and emotionless, disconnected from the world as though he had no place in it. 

A long time ago, Xukun had managed to melt that frozen heart of Zhengting’s but as things stand, no one knew if the same could happen again.

That was until the day Xukun had turned twenty-one.

The guardians, being immortals that had been around for hundreds of years, never used to celebrate birthdays. But ever since Xukun had arrived at their door step as a baby, they decided that they were going to celebrate his birthday every year, to give him a little bit of that normal human life that he couldn’t quite get living with these super powered immortals.

And on this day, Xukun was turning twenty-one. Like all the past years, the guardians have prepared a small feast for them to get together and celebrate. But unlike all the other years, Xukun couldn’t deny just how sick he felt at the moment.

For some reason, his upper back had been aching for the past couple of months. It had started out as a dull ache that he could brush off as bad posture or something. Then it started to become more and more prominent to the point Xukun could no longer deny its existence even though it was still bearable. And for the past couple of days, it had really started to fall into the category of pain as Xukun started feeling as though his upper back was burning. Because of this, he had pretty much been spending his days huddling in bed purely because he couldn’t bring himself to do anything else with the way his body was feeling. But with the birthday feast the guardians had specially prepared for him, Xukun knew that he couldn’t hide himself in bed like he would have preferred to today.

Only leaving his room when it was time for the celebration, Xukun dragged himself over, trying his best to stand up straight despite the urge to curl into a ball. He didn’t quite want the others to realise what was happening for he knew that they would start to worry the moment he let them in on what he was experiencing. But despite his best efforts to act as normal as he could, the guardians soon realised something was wrong.

Xukun had looked awfully pale when he had turned up for the feast, dark circles around his eyes as though he hadn’t had a good night’s rest in days. 

“You look horrible, what’s wrong?” Linkai had asked. But all he got in reply was Xukun plopping down at his seat, a slight smile on his face as he pushed the blame onto his lack of sleep.

All this was witnessed by the telepath who had just arrived. And while everyone soon moved on with their celebration afterwards as Xukun continued his act, Zhengting made sure to keep an eye on the human within their midst and that was how he noticed Xukun growing paler and paler, his hands shivering as cold sweat started to form on his forehead.

Zhengting was worried, Xukun definitely looked off but the latter just wouldn’t admit it no matter how many times Zhengting had asked him. Seeing Xukun like this, Zhengting had been tempted to just use his powers on him, read his mind and get an answer. But ever since Zhengting had regained his memories, he hadn’t quite been able to bring himself to use his powers on Xukun, no matter which life he was leading and how much time had passed.

Zhengting felt guilty. In the first life they had spent together, their conflict had started because of Zhengting’s powers. And in the life after that, Zhengting had also been the one to leave after making Xukun forget him. It was all his fault, and ever since then, Zhengting had swore he would never use his powers on Xukun again, he owed him that much.

So now, even when Xukun was clearly feeling unwell and hiding something from them, Zhengting still couldn’t overcome the emotional barrier in him and read his mind. So all he could do was to constantly check on Xukun from time to time, showing him the concern he hadn’t shown in years.

When even was the last time they actually spoke to one another? 

And on the fifth time Zhengting had came over to Xukun’s seat to check on him, it seemed the latter could no longer act as though nothing was happening anymore. With his eyes unfocused and face contorted in pain, Xukun hunched over, trying his best to curl in on himself as his upper back burned, an intense tightness and contortion deep within his muscles.

Seeing this, Zhengting immediately felt his heart racing as panic started to rise in him. “What’s wrong? Hey, hey, talk to me. What’s wrong?” he kept asking.

The other guardians soon started to gather too having noticed what was going on. And only after too many attempts of getting Xukun to inform the immortals, who never got sick, what was wrong, he finally managed to whisper amidst the pain, jaw clench tight as he grit through his teeth, “My back…”

With almost no hesitation, Linkai immediately pulled at Xukun’s shirt, exposing his painfully red upper back to everyone there. Against the fair skin, the two patches of red on his upper back stood out. And upon closer inspection, the skin there felt strangely hot to the touch, with what appears to be lacerations all over it.

Not quite understanding the situation, Zhengting felt utterly helpless, his hands desperately running along Xukun’s back as though trying to offer up any sort of comfort. He started to block out everything else around him besides Xukun and his pained breathing, and it was only when Zhangjing started shaking him hard by the shoulders that Zhengting recovered.

“We need to bring him to the fountain of memories. He might be evolving.”

With lots of stumbles and struggles, the guardians finally managed to get Xukun to the fountain they were referring to, where all the memories of people’s past lives Zhangjing had collected over the years were stored, and is thus used to keep the sacred tree and the world running. It was also where all the guardians had shed their identities as humans and evolved into immortals. 

Seating the human in the foot of the fountain, all the guardians could do was wait with bated breaths. 

As the memories from Xukun’s past lives started playing in his head, from the earliest memories to the most recent, he managed to catch sight of a recurring person. But he couldn’t quite figure out who this person was, his face clouded.

Trying his best to hold on to the memories of this person the waters was showing him, the mysterious figure slowly started to unveil itself. 

Xukun could hear his voice, could see his lovely smile, could see his beautiful eyes.

And when all the different pieces of memories started to piece themselves together, scenes of the person’s cold exterior peeking through his black cloak played in his head. Then came scenes of the person smiling at him, a white freesia behind his ear. Then it was the scene of the news footage showing the person’s last look behind him as he jumped.

And when it all connected, Xukun’s eyes darting over to the very person that had occupied such an important place in his heart and memories all these lives, splash. 

The water around him flew in all directions, creating beautiful waterworks as the light from the fire lamps was reflected by the water droplets flying in various directions alongside soft, golden feathers.

And when all the marvelous splash of the fountain’s water had eased away, in its place was Xukun and a magnificent pair of gold feathered wings behind him. They were huge, creating ripples throughout the waters with its light fluttering.

Looking straight into Zhengting’s eyes, Xukun whispered, “I found you…”

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for the wait, i know i said i will get this up by end of september but i couldn't upload last night because of the maintenance. really sorry this took so long! to whoever is reading, thank you for reading! this is the official end of this read my mind series and it really was a ride. i feel like i went through my entire year with this one work. this is probably my longest work to date (as a whole series) and it's also the one that had the most plot going on and i actually feel quite attached to this world and the characters. for some reason, writing this, i feel like i have lived through the hundreds of years with them haha
> 
> anyway, i probably won't be posting anytime soon after this. i have an idea for a next fic in mind but i will likely be very busy for the next 9 months so i won't be posting unless i finish the entire fic to prevent such delayed updates the next time. but i will try to drop by once in a while to reply to any comments so do leave a comment or kudos if you liked this! thank you and seeya next time!


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